The present invention relates to a reboot control unit and a reboot control method for a control unit with an auxiliary computer connected to a main computer so as to perform reboot processing discretely to the main computer and auxiliary computer.
A control unit using a personal computer (described as PC hereinafter) generally has a control board or a control card (described as NC board hereinafter) with a built-in central processing unit (described as CPU hereinafter) connected to an extended bus of the PC, and provides controls over a device such as a servo amplifier connected to the NC board through operation of the PC. This type of control unit (described as PC-NC unit hereinafter) sometimes stops the operations of the system and performs reboot processing for booting the system again when important initial parameters (described as machine parameters hereinafter) according to machine components such as a number of servo amplifiers and a number of motors connected to the control unit or setting of a series are changed.
A conventional type of PC-NC unit supplies a signal for resetting a control section inside the PC (described as PC control section hereinafter) also to an NC board through an extended bus. Accordingly, even when reboot processing is required to only either one of the PC and NC board, the reboot processing is resultantly executed to both the PC and NC board.
FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a sequence of processing when a machine parameter is set for making an adjustment to a machine such as a servo amplifier and a motor connected to the conventional type of PC-NC unit. When this processing is started, at first, the machine parameter is set by an operator, and the parameter is inputted into a PC through an input device such as a keyboard or the like connected the PC (step S1).
A PC control section automatically determines whether the inputted parameter can be changed during operation of a system or the system has to be rebooted (step S2), and when it is determined that rebooting is not required, a standby status to input the next parameter is effected. When it is determined that rebooting is required, a notice to that effect is sent to the operator by displaying a message on a display unit connected to the PC. The operator performs reboot operation to the PC-NC unit thereby (step S3).
When the reboot processing is started, the CPU of the NC board ends communications with the servo amplifier or the remote I/O connected to the NC board, ends application software/s operating on the NC board or terminates the driver/s, and ends the operating system (OS) (step S4). The PC control section also ends application software/s operating on the PC, terminates the driver/s (step S5), and ends the operating system (OS) of the PC (step S6).
When the operator resets the PC by operating a reset switch thereof (step S7), the PC control section starts the operating system of the PC (step S8), and starts the driver/s and application software/s for the PC (step S9). While the CPU of the NC board starts the operating system, driver/s, and application software/s of the NC board (step S10). Thus, the CPU of the NC board restarts the system after setting the machine parameter. When a resetting register is provided inside the PC, software may be reset by validating the register with system manager and application software for the PC.
However, during the operation of adjusting the machine parameter, the reboot processing to the PC-NC unit has to frequently be performed, and a sequence of the processing shown in FIG. 7 is executed each time the processing is performed, and so, considerable time is spent in work.
Therefore, a unit enabling resetting of only NC board with a reset button provided on the NC board and a unit enabling rebooting only of a PC while the NC board is operating have been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 9-146623.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram schematically showing the conventional type of PC-NC unit which enables rebooting only of the PC. This PC-NC unit 100 has a PC control section 1 and an NC board 2 connected to each other through an expansion slot 16 connected to a PC extended bus 15.
The PC control section 1 comprises a CPU peripheral circuit 13 connected to a CPU 11 and a memory 12 and which in turn is connected to the PC extended bus 15, and operates independently from the NC board 2 according to, for example, the operating system for the PC stored in the memory 12. The NC board 2 also comprises a CPU peripheral circuit 24 connected to a CPU 21, a memory 22, an external-communication interface 23 and which in turn is connected to the expansion slot 16, and operates independently from the PC control section 1 according to, for example, the operating system for the NC board stored in the memory 22. The external-communication interface 23 is connected to a servo amplifier 110 and to a remote I/O unit 120 through a communication cable or the like.
The CPU peripheral circuit 13 of the PC control section 1 is connected to a reset switch 14. When an operator switches this switch 14 is ON, a reset signal is outputted to the CPU 11 and the expended bus 15 and reboot processing of the PC control section 1 is executed. The CPU peripheral circuit 13 also outputs a reset request signal RSTDRV* to the CPU peripheral circuit 24 of the NC board 2 through the expansion slot 16. It should be noted that a signal with xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d added after a sign (e.g., RSTDRV*) in the specification represents a signal which is effective when the potential is relatively low.
The CPU peripheral circuit 24 of the NC board 2 outputs a reset signal to the CPU 21 of the NC board 2 when it receives a reset request signal RSTDRV*, and also outputs a reset signal to the servo amplifier 110 and the remote I/O unit 120 through the external-communication interface 23. The reboot processing of the NC board 2 is executed thereby.
This PC-NC unit 100 has a switch 25 provided on a signal path for the reset request signal RSTDRV* and when this switch 25 is OFF, the reset request signal RSTDRV* is not inputted into the NC board 2 so that only the PC control section 1 is reset.
However, the software processing in the PC control section and NC board is closely related because data is transferred therebetween, hence it is not desirable for the system to forcefully reset only the PC control section by opening a signal path for the reset request signal RSTDRV* through operation of the switch. Conversely, it is also not desirable to forcefully reset only the NC board.
There has been desired a system, when the PC-NC unit is serially connected to an external interface such as a printer during operation of the system or when the PC control section is put out of control for any reason, such that reboot is executed only to a PC and during the reboot processing the NC board can continue to control a servo amplifier and a remote I/O unit on its own.
It is an object of the present invention to obtain, for the purpose of solving the problems as described above, a reboot control unit enabling performance of reboot processing, in a control unit using a personal computer, discretely to the personal computer and a NC board connected to a bus thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to obtain a reboot control method for performing reboot processing discretely, in a control unit using a personal computer, to the personal computer and a NC board connected to a bus thereof.
In accordance with the present invention, in a register the auxiliary computer is set as an object for reboot processing, so that a logic circuit validates a reset signal for starting the reboot processing to the auxiliary computer while a main computer is kept on operating.
In accordance with the present invention, in a register the main computer is set as an object for reboot processing, so that a logic circuit invalidates a reset signal for starting the reboot processing to the auxiliary computer when the main computer is to be rebooted.
In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of main computers or a plurality of auxiliary computers each have specific information for identification, and any computer as an object for reboot processing is identified by using the information for identification.
In accordance with the present invention, when the auxiliary computer is set as an object for reboot processing, software being used by the auxiliary computer are ended, then the auxiliary computer is reset while the main computer is operating, and the software that was running on the auxiliary computer before resetting is restarted.
In accordance with the present invention, when the main computer is set as an object for reboot processing, data required for operating the auxiliary computer while the main computer is being reboot is stored in the auxiliary computer, software being used by the main computer ended, the main computer is reset while the auxiliary computer is still operating, and the software that was running on the main computer before resetting is restarted.
Other objects and features of this invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.